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THROUGH THE LENS OF FREEMASONRY: THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT
ESOTERIC THOUGHT ON BEETHOVEN’S LATE WORKS
BY
BRIAN S. GAONA
DISSERTATION
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music with a concentration in
Performance and Literature
in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, 2010
Urbana, Illinois
Doctoral Committee: Clinical Assistant Professor/Artist in
Residence Brandon Vamos, Chair Professor William Kinderman,
Director of Research Associate Professor Donna A. Buchanan
Associate Professor Zack D. Browning
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ABSTRACT
Scholarship on Ludwig van Beethoven has long addressed the
composer’s
affiliations with Freemasonry and other secret societies in an
attempt to shed new light on
his biography and works. Though Beethoven’s official membership
remains unconfirmed,
an examination of current scholarship and primary sources
indicates a more ubiquitous
Masonic presence in the composer’s life than is usually
acknowledged. Whereas
Mozart’s and Haydn’s Masonic status is well-known, Beethoven
came of age at the
historical moment when such secret societies began to be
suppressed by the Habsburgs,
and his Masonic associations are therefore much less
transparent. Nevertheless, these
connections surface through evidence such as letters, marginal
notes, his Tagebuch,
conversation books, books discovered in his personal library,
and personal accounts from
various acquaintances.
This element in Beethoven’s life comes into greater relief when
considered in its
historical context. The “new path” in his art, as Beethoven
himself called it, was bound
up not only with his crisis over his incurable deafness, but
with a dramatic shift in the
development of social attitudes toward art and the artist. Such
portentous social changes
cannot be accounted for through the force of Beethoven’s
personality, or the changing
role of the Viennese nobility. Many social forces were at work
in the late Enlightenment
period, but within this context Freemasonry assumed special
importance for Beethoven.
I attempt to show in this thesis that Beethoven’s musical
concepts were deeply
enriched through the influence of Freemasonry and other types of
ancient philosophical
and esoteric thought. The composer integrated these concepts
into his world view as well
as his music. Evidence of this philosophical/musical synthesis
can be seen by comparing
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his personal writings with certain of his compositions that
reflect such thought and
attitudes. Three works are examined from this point of view: the
Bagatelle, op. 119, No. 7,
the Piano Sonata in C minor, op. 111, and the String Quartet in
C-sharp minor, op. 131.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This development of the ideas put forth in this dissertation was
largely born
through a great deal of the most elusive kind of thought:
speculative reasoning. To
undertake such a path requires the company, guidance and
assistance of minds that are
capable of dealing in such abstract realms, and these are truly
special and uncommon.
The members of the committee overseeing the production deserve
deep gratitude for their
open-mindedness and willingness to probe the topics examined
herein. Sincere thanks
are due to Brandon Vamos for openly listening to ideas relating
this dissertation to our
major instrument, the cello, and to Zack Browning for his work
with me in the early
development of these ideas in the form of composition. And a
deep gratitude must be
expressed to Donna Buchanan and William Kinderman not only for
their extraordinary
helpfulness, interest and patience, but especially for opening
the door to the beauty of
higher levels of thinking and scholarship.
Warmest appreciation would be expressed to the Music and
Performing Arts
Library staff, whose expertise has never failed to open
relevant, and sometimes entirely
new, bodies of knowledge. Those very helpful individuals include
Andy Bendel, Bill
Buss, Chris Pawlicki, Marlys Scarbrough, and John Wagstaff.
Sandy Horn and Jenny Phillips must also be acknowledged for
their magical
administrative powers, as well as their generous assistance with
my many needs and
questions.
And finally, the bulk of the logistical debt of this work
certainly falls to my family,
in particular Raul and Carol, without whose support and
receptive spirit all of this would
be impossible.
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To Raul and Carol
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Table of Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….…….1
Part I. The Cultural Background of Beethoven’s Life Path Chapter 1.
Zeitgeist and Freemasonry of Beethoven’s Time…………………...7
1.1 The Roots of Intellectual Revolution………………………………………….9
1.2 Orientalism and Indology……………………………………………………13
1.3 The Backdrop of Revolutionary Europe……………………………………..20
1.4 The Masonic Factor………………………………………………………….22
1.5 Related Groups……………………………………………………………….28
Chapter 2. The Masonic View of Music………………………………………….32
2.1 Prototypical Organization of Masonic Musical
Philosophy…………………34
2.2 Pythagorean and Platonic Roots……………………………………………..38
2.3 Greek Myth…………………………………………………………………..47
2.4 Judeo-Christian Concept of Esoteric Sound…………………………………48
2.5 Om……………………………………………………………………………53
2.6 Hermetic Studies……………………………………………………………..56
2.7 Mozart’s Impact……………………………………………………………...62
2.8 Musical Exegesis…………………………………………………………….67
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Chapter 3. Beethoven’s Specific Masonic/Esoteric
Background…………….73
3.1 Bonn in the 1770s and 80s…………………………………………………...73
3.2 Beethoven’s Peculiar Social Position in
Bonn……………………………….76
3.3 Beethoven’s Early Masonic Web…………………………………………….79
3.4 From Student to Professional—Bonn…...…………………………………...83
3.5 From Student to
Professional—Vienna……….....…………………………..89
3.6 Masonic Motifs…………..…………………………………………………101
Part II. The Musical Consequences
Chapter 4. Bagatelle, Opus 119, No.
7….………………………………….…....116
4.1 Grounds for Examination………………………………………………...118
Chapter 5. Sonata No. 32 in c minor, Opus 111, Mvt. II:
Arietta...................123
5.1 Time
Expansion.............................................................................................123
5.2 Exponential Thinking as “Harmonic”
Thought.............................................128
5.3 “Mythic Time” Markers……………………………………………………133
Chapter 6. Quartet in c-sharp minor, Opus
131......……..……………………...141
6.1 Seven and Tonality……………………………………………………….142
6.2 A Rosicrucian Connection………………………………………………..151
6.3 Creation Cosmology……………………………………………………...153
6.4 Music of the Spheres……………………………………………………..165
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Chapter 7. Conclusions…………………………………………..…………………178
7.1 Resulting Viewpoints…………………………………………………….179
7.2 Ramifications…………………………………………………………..…182
Appendix A. Beethoven’s Mythological Readings and Personal
Library....186
Appendix B. Prominent Masons/Illuminati in Beethoven’s
world………....189
Appendix C. Timeline of Beethoven’s Masonic Interactions
.…....................191
Appendix D. Alternative Calculations Showing the Relationship
between the Hebrew and Babylonian Flood Chronologies ………....195
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….....197
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Introduction
Many instances and anecdotes exist in which Beethoven expressed
opinions about the
power and potentiality of music that reflect a divergence from
the pragmatic view adopted by
many in the musical community of his time. Some of these
quotations are famous, and some
stem from sources less reliable than others; still, the
existence of a deeper and more philosophical
view of music attributed to Beethoven is comfortably agreed upon
by scholars. The quotes given
below reveal either a spiritual dimension of the composer’s
relationship to music, or a view of the
artist that stands in contrast to the musical community of his
day. For instance:
-I must despise the world which does not know that music is a
higher revelation
than all wisdom and philosophy.1
-Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of
knowledge which
comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend… every
real
creation of art is independent, more powerful than the artist
himself and returns
to the divine through its manifestation. It is one with man only
in this, that it
bears testimony of the mediation of the divine in him.2
-Only Art and science can exalt men to the point of divinity.
…The true artist has
no pride; unhappily he sees that Art has no bounds; Obscurely he
feels how far
1 Quoted by Bettina von Arnim, in John Crabbe’s Empire of the Mind, p. 92. See also Thayer‐Forbes, p. 502, on the reliability of Bettina von Arnim’s reports. See also William Kinderman, Beethoven, (new Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 168‐169.
2 Ibid., p. 102.
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away he is from his aim, and even while others may be admiring
him, he mourns
his failure to attain that end which his better genius illumines
like a distant sun.3
-Prince, what you are you are by accident of birth; what I am I
am through my
own efforts. There have been thousands of princes and will be
thousands more;
there is only one Beethoven!4
Compare this view to that of the great pedagogues and masters of
the music world of the
eighteenth century to which Beethoven had entered, starting with
Leopold Mozart:
What is slight can still be great, if it is written in a
natural, flowing, and easy
style—and at the same time bears the marks of sound composition.
Such works
are more difficult to compose than all those harmonic
progressions, which the
majority of people cannot fathom, or pieces which have pleasing
melodies, but
which are difficult to perform.5
In his 1752 benchmark treatise, Johann J. Quantz, though less
patronizing, is equally
pragmatic in his view of music:
Reason teaches us that if in speaking we demand something from
someone, we
must make use of such expressions as the other understands. Now
music is
nothing but an artificial language through which we seek to
acquaint the listener
3 Hamburger, Michael, Beethoven, pp. 114‐115, this excerpt comes from a letter Beethoven wrote from Teplitz on July 17, 1812 with some pedagogical intent to a young admirer from Hamburg, addressed as “Emilie”. Also, Brandenburg, Sieghard, ed., Ludwig van Beethoven: Briefwechsel Gesamtausgabe, Band 2, pp. 274‐275, #585.
4 Crabbe, Empire of the Mind, p. 38, in a letter to his friend and patron, Prince Lichnowsky. Also, Brandenburg, ed., Briefwechsel Gesamtausgabe, Band 1, p. 290, #258.
5 Einstein, Alfred, Mozart, p. 120, from a letter from Leopold Mozart to his son, Wolfgang: August 13, 1778.
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with our musical ideas. … Thus it is most important that the
professional
musician seek to play each piece distinctly, and with such
expression that it
becomes intelligible to both the learned and the unlearned, and
hence may please
them both.6
Beethoven’s teacher, Franz Joseph Haydn, was in complete
contrast to his pupil
regarding the social status of the musician. His contract of
employment at the House of
Esterhazy stated its expectations that:
[Haydn] will strictly observe not only these regulations, but
all others that may
from time to time be made by his highness, and that he will
place the orchestra
on such a footing, and in such good order, that he may bring
honor upon himself
and deserve the further favor of the prince his master, who thus
confides in his
zeal and discretion.7
There are nevertheless roots for this apparently dramatic shift
in perspective. It was not
Beethoven alone who revolutionized the general perception of
music, moving from a craft
designed to “please the ears” or “public”, to an art whose
purpose was less clear and less
superficial—an art that would certainly transcend at least this
mundane view of music, extending
well into metaphysical and spiritual realms. While composers
such as the ones above wrote with a
great deal of concern for public and aristocratic taste, they
nevertheless anticipated the direction
in which Beethoven was to take the art. Mozart, for instance,
made an attempt to support himself
in the free market as a composer, though with much difficulty.
Both Mozart and Haydn were also
among those composers integrating themselves in an organization
which was to formally
6Quantz, chap. XI. taken from Weiss and Taruskin, Music in the Western World, p. 263.
7 Haydn’s employment contract, section 10, 1761. also taken from Weiss and Taruskin, Music in the Western World, p. 300.
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resurrect to its members many of the ancient lofty and
metaphysical views of music as a part of a
general plan to alter, perhaps even radically, social thought:
Freemasonry.
Lest it be doubted that Beethoven ascribed a higher spiritual
goal to his art, consider the
inscription from the Temple of Isis in ancient Egypt that Kant
described as perhaps the most
sublime of thoughts, and that Beethoven adopted from Friedrich
Schiller’s essay, Die Sendung
Moses, and kept under glass at his desk during most of the last
decade of his life:
I am everything, what is, what was, and what will be. No mortal
human being
has lifted my veil.
The origin of Schiller’s essay, in turn, was a publication by
Carl Leonhard Reinhold that was
written for the Freemasons at Vienna in the 1780s.8 Schiller,
like Beethoven, was closely
associated with Freemasons, even if it has never been proven
that he himself was a member.
While the most famous composers of the world into which
Beethoven entered were for
the most part hanging on to the old patronage system, their
involvement in Freemasonry and its
ideals pointed the way for a new view of music. The impact of
such a trend cannot be
underestimated. In the history of music, it is one of the most
direct and significant catalysts in
many aspects of the following era, the Romantic Movement.
Indeed, the context in which this
phenomenon of deepening and spiritualizing the art of music for
its own sake can be more
usefully viewed within the larger context of the modernization
of the Western world.
I intend to argue two major points in this dissertation. First,
that Beethoven may be
viewed as a sort of cultural funnel through which disparate and
large-scale currents in this society
become concentrated and then distilled through his musical
activities. Consequently, the second
8 A recent and detailed study of this and two other ancient Egyptian inscriptions embraced by Beethoven is Beethovens Glaubensbekenntnis: Drei Denksprϋche aus Friedrich Schillers Aufsatz Die Sendung Moses, edited with a commentary by Friederike Grigat (Bonn: Beethoven‐Haus, 2008).
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item will be the ramifications of these currents as incorporated
into his music. Certain late
compositions of his have integrated the esoteric currents
present in the eighteenth century not
only in recognizable mood or aesthetic, but in concrete
compositional techniques and devices that
either utilize, emulate, or symbolize concepts found primarily
in the esoteric circles with which
Beethoven was in contact.
In almost all ways, the boldest and most substantial of these
distillations and musical
syntheses in Beethoven’s work occur after his emergence from a
nearly barren compositional
period, which ended in 1818 when the Hammerklavier was
completed. From this work on, his
music enters a different mode of thought. Maynard Solomon, an
authority on the intersection of
Beethoven biography and Freemasonry, states:
…[There] appears to be a striking metamorphosis in Beethoven’s
system of
beliefs, proposing that a thoroughgoing transformation was under
way by the
years around 1810, gaining momentum as the decade proceeded, and
that this
eventually amounted to a sweeping realignment of his
understanding of nature,
divinity, and human purpose, constituting a sea change in
Beethoven’s system of
beliefs.”9
This “sea change” had a major personal impact on Beethoven as
these new concepts and
attitudes of thought would settle and develop in him. They would
then become concentrated and
manifest themselves into reality, making his personal “sea
change” tangible for the musical
community of Europe. Compare, for instance, the extra-musical
dimensions of the Ninth
Symphony10 with earlier works of that genre, which tend to
appear almost formalistic and pre-
9 Maynard Solomon, Late Beethoven, p. 2.
10 Authors discussing these extra‐musical dimensions include Esteban Buch, Beethoven’s Ninth: a Political History, Solomon’s discussion of Utopian symbolism and fulfillment in his essay “Beethoven and Schiller”
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determined in comparison. Also note the presence of such mystic
and suspended psychological
states11 as well as extra-musical dimensions in the Ninth
Symphony and afterward12 as contrasted
with music before that period.
History allots Beethoven much credit regarding issues of musical
standards and
innovation, as well as artistic vision and spiritual depth.
Without diminishing the composer’s
remarkable feats achieved through music, it seems that to
attribute his prodigious level only to his
own talent, vision and drive, would be an unfair assessment in
many respects. Omitting a study
of circumstance and environment also puts one in danger of
overlooking larger contexts that more
fully explain the Beethoven phenomenon. Accordingly, we shall
now turn to the unique situation
into which Beethoven was born as the focus of Chapter 1.
from his Beethoven Essays, and William Kinderman’s discussion of epistemic and ontological significance in the chapter titled “Triumph: 1822‐1824” from his Beethoven.
11 Most notably, the section of the choral finale that treats the text “Seid umschlungen Millionen…”
12 Consider, for example, Berlioz’s programatic Symphonie Fantastique, op. 14, the symphonies of Mahler that he titled, the autobiographical monograms of Brahms’ symphonies or the suspended states of Bruckner’s symphonies.
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Part I.
The Cultural Background of Beethoven’s Life Path.
Chapter 1
Zeitgeist and Freemasonry of Beethoven’s Time
A survey of commentaries on Beethoven’s work reveals a
pronounced theme of the
metaphysical, including morality, fate, and concern with man’s
relationship to divinity, as well as
optimism and humanitarianism. These characteristics are present
from his earliest works through
his last. We can see such trends beginning in his work even as a
teenager in Bonn when he wrote
a cantata to honor the passing of Austria’s enlightened despot,
Joseph II. Though the Fifth
Symphony, for example, operates without such overt political and
social implications on a much
more abstract level, it still demonstrates many of the above
themes. One can see this trend
developed well into Beethoven’s last compositions such as the
Ninth Symphony, the Missa
Solemnis, and even in the Heiliger Dankgesang of his very late
Quartet, Op. 132.
Beethoven had a predisposition toward daydream, aloofness and
metaphysical thinking.
Such documentation can be found in associations dealing with
Beethoven in his childhood, for
instance:
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[He was] a shy and taciturn boy, the necessary consequence of
the life apart
which he led, observing more and pondering more than he spoke,
and disposed to
abandon himself entirely to the feelings awakened by music and
(later) by poetry
and to the pictures created by fancy.13
Cäcelia Fischer, observing Beethoven as a child staring through
a window fixedly, quotes him: “I
was just occupied with such a lovely deep thought, I could not
bear to be disturbed.”14
These tendencies toward aloofness, attraction to abstract
beauty, and escape through
contemplation and fantasy are characteristics that stayed with
the composer through his entire
documented life. Many psychological profiles have been generated
in order to account for these
trends in Beethoven study, modern attempts including gestalt,15
cognitive-behavioral,16 and
psycho-analytic approaches.17
No examination of personal character or achievement can be
sufficiently appreciated or
accurately estimated without taking into account the
environmental factors of which the subject
was or is a part. That Beethoven was a rather unique historical
figure is difficult to contest, but
the setting into which he was born plays a major role in
accounting for his rise. This setting could
be said to be one of the most critical and significant moments
in the shaping of our modern world:
the Enlightenment, as well as its correlating
Counter-Enlightenment. His personal traits
mentioned above were also major points of the Enlightenment,
either in confluence or opposition.
13 Alexander W. Thayer‐ Elliot Forbes, p. 20. Thayer’s source is referred to only as “Dr. Müller”.
14 Solomon, Beethoven, p. 20.
15 Lerdahl and Jackendoff, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music MIT Press, 1983.
16 Two books use Beethoven as a model for cognitive‐behavioral therapies: Benzon, William. Beethoven’s Anvil Basic Books, 2002, and Pearsall, Paul. The Beethoven Factor. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2003.
17 Most notably, Maynard Solomon’s Beethoven and Beethoven Essays, (see bibliography).
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There existed, therefore, in this setting a pre-existing
momentum for these characteristics of the
composer, functioning as mutually intensifying vehicles for each
other; or in some cases, such as
Beethoven’s mystic tendencies, for providing an opponent against
which to strive. From either
angle, these traits were relevant to his era.
Beginning his life in Bonn, Beethoven lived in a city whose
situation in the years
surrounding his birth through his formative years exemplifies
the political and social progress of
this period. The German Aufklärung essentially shared the same
intellectual and philosophical
roots as the Enlightenment in the rest of Europe, and with
similar impact. Bonn would become a
progressive city through this time, providing the young
Beethoven with a fertile environment
where these enlightenment trends could be found and integrated
into his own thinking and
spirituality. It is the intent of this chapter to identify those
aspects of his environment in Bonn
and Vienna of the late 18th Century, and explore their
consequences through the composer’s
development and maturation, with an emphasis on their resonance
in his last years.
1.1 The Roots of Intellectual Revolution
While the nature and outcome of the Aufklärung are well known,
identifying and
highlighting some of its major and specific causes can greatly
clarify the directions that Europe
and its leaders took as well as providing a more refined
understanding of their motivations. It is
well-known, for instance, that Kant, Hume, or Voltaire tended to
advocate rationalism and
skepticism above pious religious devotion when the two
conflicted. What may not be
immediately evident is the reason for so much zealously
anti-Christian or anti-Catholic thought
that arose at this time. Consideration of major social strife
and intellectual constraint caused
directly or indirectly by Christian institutions makes clear
much of the circumspection and even
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animosity exhibited by individuals such as early David Hume,
Thomas Aikenhead,18 or Adam
Weisshaupt and his group, the Illuminati.
The Thirty Years War and the Inquisition-led witch hunts are
primary examples of such
social disasters that contributed to this strife and growing
animosity. Owing to the scale on which
these events occurred, they made impressions felt on a deep
personal level rather than remaining
only at a level of social awareness. Some estimates project the
casualties of the Thirty Years War
at one-third to two-thirds (one source estimates the population
at about 15 million in 1600 to
around 10 million in 165019) of the population of the
German-speaking lands,20 and that of the
witch hunts are estimated at around 100,000.21 One source,
though undocumented, places the
witch hunt casualties at the highest end of speculation with
“nearly a million innocent lives”.22
These figures indicate not only that the populace would surely
be aware of such hardship
occurring in their communities, but that any given individual is
more likely than not to have
suffered serious loss or grave intimidation directly from
church-related endeavors.
18 A university student hung by Edinburgh officials in 1697. Howell, T.B. A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason T.C. Hansard: London, 1816.
19 Estimate provided by http://www.tacitus.nu/historical‐atlas/population/germany.htm
20 Wedgewood, C. V., The Thirty Years War, pp. 510‐515.
21 Levack, Brian P, The Witch‐hunt in Early Modern Europe, p. 19.
22 Howard, Michael, The Occult Conspiracy p. 43.
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0
5
10
15
20
25
1500 1650 1750
Population
Victims of theThirty‐YearsWar and Witch‐hunts
Figure 1.1
Impact of religious strife on population of the
German-speaking lands23
Many other well-known major problems faced the church’s goal of
unanimous Catholic
control, the most damaging result of which was of course the
Reformation. Even in Beethoven’s
day, the split between Catholics and Protestants was likely to
have serious practical ramifications
because of political alliances: Prussia was officially
Protestant, while the Habsburg Empire
remained Catholic. The bitter struggle for religious dominance
during the two centuries leading
up to Beethoven’s birth in 1770 had been a bloody one. And
though the Thirty Years War—the
climax of this religious tension—had ended more than a century
earlier, the long-term impact of
such an extended religious civil war made Europe desperate for
smoother and less violent trends
in its culture. Residual doubt in the value of religion in
general had persisted in certain circles in
Europe. This lingering doubt and distaste for the warring
Christian Churches harbored by those
Europeans left pockets of spiritual vacuum. This naturally
provided an opening for Masonic
organizations to emerge, most significantly in this specific
context, in portions of Bonn’s
intellectual life.
Nevertheless, both Protestantism and Catholicism maintained
their positions as the
primary spiritual (though no longer socio-political)
institutions of Beethoven’s lifetime.
23 For comparative purposes, the casualties listed for 1650 include not only the victims of the Thirty‐Years War and the witch‐hunts occurring at that time, but the estimated total of all witch‐hunts in early‐modern Europe. Population statistics are measured by millions. Both statistics are highly‐contested and approximate; however this chart reflects the trends as accurately as possible. Data taken from Levack, Erick H. C. Midelfort, Howard, and Martinsson.
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Beethoven’s family, a case in point, was decidedly of a less
questioning sort than the company
that Beethoven would later keep as he grew up. Ludwig himself,
in spite of the far and wide
spiritual journey made through his life, would never renounce or
protest the merits of
Catholicism, no matter how distant or contrary were the texts
that entered his serious study and
consideration. The seeds of Christian belief were sown and
retained, and perhaps even flourished,
through the composer’s life. It is a critical point of this
dissertation that Beethoven sought to
reconcile and/or synthesize spiritual concepts of disparate
religious systems as well as the
spiritual elements of various literary bodies and contemporary
philosophies.
Though most of Europe stood firm in its outward traditional
Christian convictions, an
intellectual fracture was growing in the collective mind of
Europe, dividing the church’s socio-
political dominance, from which the church would never fully
recover. This fracture could not be
restricted to the intellectual realm either. The confusion of
the era leading up to the
Enlightenment is worth emphasizing. In a world where a culture
accepts theocracy with its
dogma, a shift in the direction of serious inquiry and the newly
developed application of scientific
method can yield unfamiliar areas for thought and unanticipated
conclusions. What could easily
qualify as heresy and a consequent death sentence in Germanic
areas in 167024 could be tolerated
or even supported in Bonn of 1770 in the right circles. This is
a small enough time span to cause
significant tension at a domestic level, as one generation would
not adjust easily to the next ones’
quickly changing views regarding issues considered very serious
at that time.25
These were likely the most powerful stimuli for the shift in the
spiritual perspective
during this era, and it was not without consequence for
Beethoven. Social change invariably
24 Midelfort, Witch Hunting, p. 71.
25 The case of Thomas Aikenhead, cited in footnote #15, epitomized the tension of this era. As a university student in Edinburgh in 1697, in the wake of the Inquisition’s peak power, he openly disparaged Christian theology and was consequently tried in a court of law and sentenced to death by hanging.
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elicits debate whose intensity is proportional to its perceived
relevance and impact in any given
setting. The polarity of religious conservatism, as this pulled
against the rationalistic tendencies
of the day, could be stressful on any individual when forming a
world-concept, but can be a
further-reaching burden for an artist.
In this era, the artist did not only share the responsibility of
self-definition as do all
people; he or she must accurately assess the awareness and
receptivity of his/her audience, and
creatively balance the opposing forces to the best of his/her
intuitions, either diplomatically or in
conflict, with the aim of successfully persuading society to
embrace his/her artistic view. In no
other way could an artist attempt to successfully navigate the
free market that was beginning to
emerge for composers.
The challenge of dealing with and sharing effectively these
issues can cause cognitive
dissonance not only in the sense of struggling with ideas that
are hard to reconcile, but also in the
sense of struggling to see oneself as complete and
comprehensible in two ways that logically do
not tolerate each other. Both Mozart and Beethoven, for example,
suffered from a desire to be
good and pious toward God, yet be forward-looking “enlightened”
men, both assuming what
were effectively leadership positions of social consequence. The
reconciliation of apparently
conflicting ideas will be discussed in musical contexts and
elaborated in the chapters dealing with
Beethoven’s own solutions and syntheses in sound in his opus 111
and opus 131.
1.2 Orientalism and Indology
During this time of re-evaluation of its core spiritual tenets,
Europe faced many other
challenges. One beneficial factor for Europe was the great
progress of global exploration. Such
progress had strong implications that the world and its
knowledge were ultimately knowable. It
contributed greatly to the confidence and spirit of the
Enlightenment, and reinforced its
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14
momentum. Beethoven was in no way exempt from the ripples of
excitement that were cast
through his circles when informed of new reports of exotic
discovery from abroad. Explorers
such as Captain James Cook and Samuel Wallis of England, and
Louis Antoine de Bougainville
of France led expeditions to remote places of the globe for
which Europe had no record. By the
end of Cook’s voyages, cartographers, accounts, and reports of
the distant Pacific had mapped
and described what 300 years prior had been mistaken for the
edge of a flat world. Thus the last
earthly frontiers were de-mystified in the minds of many of that
time. Reports circulated widely
in Europe, reaching Beethoven in their readership.
These reports of the explorations of the Far East generated a
taste for anthropological
studies of anywhere east of the Ottoman Empire among Europe’s
intellectuals. Interest became
so great in areas such as India, the newly-discovered Tahiti,
and the myriad of Pacific Islands that
this trend developed into a serious movement whose studies began
to assemble under the term
Orientalism. Of all these areas, perhaps the most captivating
for eighteenth-century Viennese
scholars was India.
At this historical juncture, India studies began to exert a
strong influence on Western
thought, with many of these influences filtering through Vienna
during Beethoven’s life. Judging
by the amount and serious treatment of Hindu reference made by
Beethoven in his Tagebuch—his
diary—that he kept in his forties as well as in his
correspondence, it becomes clear that this
culture was very meaningful to him.26 While he did seek out
Hindu studies on his own, he did so
in a culture that was growing more and more saturated in
Indology (South Asian/Indian
subcontinent studies) every year. This movement gained
significant momentum in the 1780s,
precipitated by William Jones’s seminal work in the field.
Because of its critical impact on his
late compositions (discussed in Part II), highlights of European
interest in India and the resulting
26 In his commentary of the Tagebuch in Beethoven Essays, Solomon cites numerous references to the Bhagavad‐Gita, Rg Veda, and writings of contemporary indologists.
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15
tone during Beethoven’s lifetime are summarized briefly here,
with an emphasis on studies
known to the composer.
Until the 1780s, eighteenth-century Europe’s experience with
India was most prominent
in the turbulent interactions it had with the British East India
Company. Founded in 1600, this
company viewed India as a less civilized culture and behaved
with a distinct mercantilist outlook
in its dealings. Naturally, at this stage, commercial ties and
cultural interest were generated by
Indian imports as well as by British accounts of India. Then in
1757, as part of the Seven Years
War, India was brought further into the European public
awareness as the East India Company
established British company rule by military means in West
Bengal, India in the battle of Plassey.
This battle, a key victory for the English, bridged the state of
English-Indian affairs from
mercantilism toward colonialism and imperialism. Consequently,
Plassey brought India and the
East much closer to the foreground of the thoughts of many
Europeans.
A decade later, in the mid-late 1760s, Captains Cook and
Bougainville embarked on
voyages (though not including India at that point) which would
generate waves of excitement;
news of these excursions reached the general public as well as
scholarly circles. A decade after
that in 1777 Georg Forster published a chronicle of his
experiences aboard that circumnavigation.
His influential A Voyage Round the World spearheaded the spread
of anthropological interest in
popular and intellectual circuits. He, and later Alexander von
Humboldt, would bring further
prestige to cultural studies and exploration.
Regarding Indic interest specifically, the prime stimulus had
been made in 1786 by the
English philologist William Jones. In his essay, The Sanscrit
Language, he connected European
language families to Sanskrit. The likelihood of an ancient
historical, linguistic, or even genetic
connection between Europe and India opened an entirely new
dimension to cultural scholarship
and to Europe’s own self-understanding. During that same time,
Jones also founded the Asiatick
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16
Society, a research group mostly centered on Indic studies,
based in Calcutta. His 1789
translation of the ancient play Sakuntala27 had a particular
impact on Johann Gottfried von
Herder, whose mythopoetic works proved most influential in the
German-speaking lands.
In the same year as Jones’ Sanscrit Language, a French
orientalist named Abraham-
Hyacinthe Anquetil Duperron contributed Recherches historiques
et geographiques sur l'Inde.
The influence of this author can be most clearly felt when
reading Schopenhauer’s
acknowledgement of his academic debt to Duperron regarding the
Hindu influence of his The
World as Will and Representation. Writing on this topic, Harry
Oldmeadow has stated:
Schopenhauer, at the age of twenty-five, was given a copy of
Anquetil
Duperron’s Oupnek’hat. It was a revelation to him: he later
praised it as “the
most profitable and elevated reading which … is possible in the
world. It has
been the solace of my life, and will be the solace of my death.”
After his
introduction to the Upanishads Schopenhauer immediately embarked
on the
collection and study of such Asian texts as had been translated
into European
languages, claiming that “Sanskrit literature will be no less
influential for our
time than Greek literature was in the 15th Century for the
Renaissance.”28
Duperron also provided Europe with a Latin translation of the
Upanishads in 1804.
The 1790s continued the production of more Indology. In 1796,
the missionary Paulinus
Bartholomaeo published his own accounts in his India Viaggio
alle Indie Oriental, translated into
German by Forster in 1798. He also published some of the
earliest European texts on Sanskrit
grammar. In 1794, the Scottish professor William Robertson
published his lengthy An Historical
27 Beethoven also had an interest in this play, having quoted it in his Tagebuch entry #63b. Solomon, Beethoven Essays, p. 267‐268.
28 Oldmeadow, Journeys East, pp. 22‐23.
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17
Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge that the Ancients had of
India, focusing on the
dissemination of knowledge in the ancient world.
Vienna had numerous translations of these and other works
available to interested parties.
Nevertheless, even with the prestige of all the names above, it
should be said that the greatest
impact on Viennese Indology was affected by a small group of
German thinkers: most notably,
the Schlegel brothers, Herder, and Josef Hammer-Purgstall. In
1808, Karl Wilhelm Friederich
Schlegel published Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On
the Language and Wisdom of
India). His brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, was in
1818 appointed professor of literature in
Bonn, thereafter dedicating himself to Sanskrit studies.
The names of these scholars are naturally most associated with
such studies, but it was
not only a specialist academic community that felt the depth of
their impact. As a Yale PhD
candidate in the 1950s, Leslie Willson’s researches led him to
an understanding of the extent to
which Indology had permeated the German-speaking lands at this
time. His dissertation, A
Mythical Image: The Ideal of India in German Romanticism, traces
the development of India as a
symbol of a sacred land in the German mind and its roots in
early and proto-Romantic German
writings. An article distilled from this dissertation, “Herder
and India,” cites several specific
instances of Herder’s interest in Indic studies and the cultural
ramifications manifested by his
readership. In this article, Willson says of Herder’s view of
India:
…[It is] an attitude of extreme reverence and adulation which
resulted finally in
the formulation of a mythical image. The term ‘mythical image’
implies an
imaginative conception of India, and one can trace the
development of such an
image in the fancy of Herder.29
29 PMLA, 1955, p. 1049.
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18
Willson emphasizes Herder’s persuasive power and the resulting
influence over German
writers of this time later in his essay. It is significant that
this “mythic” aesthetic came to be so
strongly associated with India in German-speaking lands,
contrasting with the more academic
appeal that seemed to prevail in the rest of Europe. To cite an
example in Beethoven’s own work,
Birgit Lodes reveals a connection of this mystical and reverent
view to a late quartet, citing
Herder specifically:
This movement [the first of Beethoven’s op. 127] can be read as
a myth,
spiraling around the fundamental question of a cosmos, deity, or
fate governing
an enduring human essence that can only partially, at most, mold
its own life, but
that is part of an ongoing, cyclic Weltgeschehen. In this
context, I suggest that
our understanding of Beethoven’s late works in general may be
enriched by
taking into account the idea of myth and mythology.
…At the outset of the nineteenth century, myth resonated deeply
with many
German-speaking intellectuals. In 1800, Friederich Schlegel
proclaimed a “New
Mythology,” intensifying a trend that had begun several decades
earlier with
Johann Gottfried Herder…”
…That Beethoven, too, was caught up by that fascination is
revealed in many
ways… [In his Tagebuch], we find ample evidence of Beethoven’s
preoccupation
with not only Greek and Roman mythic literature, but also with
texts by Johann
G. Herder, a key German figure in mythopoetic writings…”30
Josef Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall was one of Austria’s most
important orientalists of
any period. While his work was not as specifically focused on
India as other prominent
30 See Lodes, “So träumte mir ich reiste, … nach Indien.” Kinderman, et al; String Quartets, chap. 7, pp. 168‐169.
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Indologists, his career and influence grew large enough to have
impact on Viennese academics as
a result of his later becoming the first president of the
Österreichische Akademie der
Wissenschaften in 1847. Earlier in his career, accompanying
diplomats, he held posts in
“Constantinople, Egypt, England, Dalmatia and Moldavia—as
secretary and translator. He
returned to Vienna in 1807, occupying himself with his literary
work and oriental research.”31
His presence is most notable here because of his personal
interactions and correspondences with
Beethoven regarding exchanges of Hindu literature that were
intended for his musical setting.
Beethoven’s readings and discussions of such authors on world
affairs reflect a keen
interest in his times.32 He is often misleadingly popularized as
a man so completely enveloped in
his art that he lost all connection to outside reality, living
in his own synthetic one of sound and
time. If this were to be argued at all effectively, it seems
only his last five to ten years or so could
possibly be even considered. While it is true that Beethoven was
often aloof, he was throughout
his life intensely curious about the nature of humanity in many
of its diverse forms. In the realm
of current events, his political opinions were informed and
often voiced. Most famously called to
mind are his disparaging opinions of Metternich and
Napoleon.
Philosophical, scientific, and anthropological texts were owned
and/or cited by him
throughout his life. “…The personal library of 200-300 volumes
left at his death included a
considerable number of religious and speculative texts”33 as
well as travel and cultural texts. It
included many writings of the major figures mentioned above, for
example, the reports by Johann
R. Forster and his son Georg, those of Bartholomaeo, and at
least excerpts from Jones’s
31 Solomon, “A Beethoven Acquaintance”, p. 14.
32 John Crabbe presents this argument in chapter 8 of his Beethoven’s Empire of the Mind. Excerpts from this chapter that include specific authors and works are included in Appendix A.
33 Crabbe, Empire of the Mind, p. 79. See also Appendix A.
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Orientalist chronicle, Asiatick Researches.34 Also conspicuously
present here are works of
Herder, Hammer-Purgstall, William Robertson, and Sir William
Jones. Birgit Lodes has
provided a table of Solomon’s identifications of various
mythical writings that are quoted in his
Tagebuch.35
1.3 The Backdrop of Revolutionary Europe
The age in which Beethoven lived is often called the “Age of
Revolution.” These
cultural researches and their ramifications were very much in
step with the trend of dramatically
shifting perspectives of this time: The introduction to new
cultures reached by explorers coupled
with the increase of study of known cultures by Orientalists was
rapidly changing the European
intellectual landscape. Some of this knowledge, as conveyed in
Jones’s Sanscrit Language, for
instance, would fundamentally change Europe’s understanding of
itself. The results were of the
same revolutionary nature as many other movements of the time in
which Beethoven lived, such
as the Scientific Revolution, the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution, the American Revolution,
the many revolutions in colonial Latin America, and the French
Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution had
their own impact on the
composer’s outlook on humanity. While this could not be
considered a wholly positive
phenomenon as these changes proved difficult in many ways,
Beethoven seems to have embraced
an optimistic view of this evolution. The following anecdote, as
related here by Solomon, could
serve well to illustrate his attitude toward the rapidly
evolving progressive science of the day:
34 This was a periodical which functioned as a vessel for the relaying of anthropological interests from Orientalist research happening in that time, as disseminated through William Jones’ establishment, the Asiatick Society. It included a variety of topics including geography, cultural issues and linguistics.
35 Kinderman et al., String Quartets, p. 170, reproduced in Appendix A.
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“His trusting qualities predominated to such an extent that when
a fellow composer Friederich
Himmel slyly wrote him from Berlin that a lamp for the blind had
been invented, Beethoven
unhesitatingly broadcast the remarkable news to all his
friends.”36
This anecdote serves to show at once the composer’s enthusiasm
and faith in human
advancement as well as his decided bent toward optimism, even if
occasionally ill-founded or
naive. Such an attitude may seem foolhardy, but such dedication
to humanitarian feeling and
thinking with unshaken faith may have been necessary on some
level for the production of
visionary humanitarian works such as the Ninth Symphony or his
Missa Solemnis. This trend can
be seen throughout Beethoven’s output, notably in works such as
the cantata written for the death
of Emperor Joseph II, through the Choral Fantasia, and later his
Fidelio.
The composer’s naïveté regarding such issues as the “lamp for
the blind” becomes
slightly mitigated when faced with the dynamic world of his
time. In the realm of science, his
generation saw the development of other such Industrial
Revolution inventions and developments
such as the Spinning Jenny, the steam engine, and the
implementation of fossil fuels as an energy
source. Only two centuries earlier such advances could not be
imagined without invoking
concepts of magic. Though formulated in the early seventeenth
century, Francis Bacon’s
“scientific method” gradually secured its place in European
intellectual thinking throughout the
eighteenth century. In that growing tradition, Newton’s academic
feud with Leibniz stimulated
university thinking throughout Europe for the rest of that
century. In economics, Europe began a
stunning ascent as its population once again began to expand,
its banking practice grew and
became refined, and the above factors took effect. The financial
benefits of colonization also
brought a great deal of revenue to parent countries, further
inflating European wealth under its
mercantilist view of global economics.
36 Solomon, Beethoven, p. 84.
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22
These historical factors become necessary for understanding
Beethoven scholarship in
general, as contextual differences often lead to subtle
misinterpretation of biographical facts; it is
too easy to see too much of our own background in distant or
historical settings. That so much
change in so many areas of human experience happened roughly
simultaneously is marvelous, but
it should be noted that change will elicit more change.
Beethoven, for example, can well be
viewed as part of a larger arena of transition. He did indeed
revolutionize many aspects of the
tradition of Western art music, but did so with the spirit of
revolution (of many kinds) in the air–
when Western art music was ready to undergo that
transformation.
1.4 The Masonic Factor
The reaction of groups and individuals to these changes occurred
in a variety of ways.
Some of these could be seen as predictable, and others more
remarkable, even if only by virtue of
their existence having been made possible by a historically
unprecedented setting. A prime
example of change eliciting more change in this era that bore
major consequence for Beethoven’s
life path was the emergence and presence of Freemasonry in
Europe and its permeation into
Bonn. This section will provide a picture of the nature of this
group and its place in European
society until Beethoven’s time.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization at least in part
dedicated to mutual aid of a
restricted membership, positive social impact, and general
philanthropy.37 It is also probably the
most famous example of a secret society. Though its presence is
obviously not at all secret, its
origin, rituals, aspects of its overall purpose, moral
teachings, and community involvement are all
37 The outside opinion of the purpose of Freemasonry varies a great deal, but these descriptions seem to reflect the self‐image of Freemasonry. This impression is encapsulated in the writings of Albert Pike, a prominent American Masonic leader of the nineteenth century. See his Meaning of Masonry.
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23
ambiguous and sources of curiosity and speculation for the
general public. While there is strong
evidence and documentation to provide us with answers to some
common questions, it appears
that much about this group remains officially unconfirmed or
unknown, either to the public or
perhaps even to the Masonic leadership itself. It is central to
the essence of Freemasonry that its
teachings and symbols work through the lens of an architectural
and building perspective. For
instance, Freemasonry utilizes the image of the draftsman’s
right-angle square at least in part to
symbolize a striving for moral straightness through the
discipline of the Masonic society.38
We do know that the group can trace its origins to prototype
assemblies at least as far
back as the early seventeenth century. It is at this point that
we have the earliest concrete
documentation of a specifically Masonic source, 39 though the
group likely existed in earlier
forms during the Middle Ages. Literature on this topic, much of
it of Masonic origin, ascribes
mythical beginnings ranging as far back as the College of Roman
Architects, Hiram Abiff and his
work on the Hebrew Temple of Jerusalem with King Solomon,40 or
even ancient Egypt.41
Through the Middle Ages up until the early eighteenth century,
the group developed an
educational and spiritual self-sufficiency. This was a necessity
resulting from the traveling that
was imperative for their work: whenever one project was
completed, they needed to travel to their
next project. The best builders could be expected to be summoned
across large distances in
Europe.
The professional nature of this group was in some ways peculiar
in Medieval and
Renaissance Europe. Relatively frequent traveling kept them from
forming community roots
38 Mackey, Albert G., The Lexicon of Freemasonry, pp. 450‐451.
39 McIntosh, Christopher, Rose Cross, p. 39. McIntosh cites Elias Ashmole’s initiation into a Masonic Lodge in 1646.
40 Ibid., chap. 24 and 43.
41 Howard, p. 5.
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24
wherever they stationed themselves. This stands in stark
contrast to most Europeans who
remained bound to one place for generations as a result of
widespread feudalism. It also would
likely encumber facility in communication with surrounding
people and authorities, as the
language and dialect, as well as the culture would usually not
be one’s own. The work was also
intense, so outside socializing would not necessarily occur
frequently. The business aspect of
dealing with the Catholic Church also likely had a de-mystifying
effect that would not likely be
shared or understood by the majority of Christians of the time.
Such insularity and feeling of
social difference would most likely have been reciprocated and
intensified by the surrounding
community.
Yet, these traveling builders required great knowledge, skill,
and social discipline to
support their activities. The solution that appears to have
arisen was to educate themselves.
While today, this may seem unremarkable, it becomes significant
that these builders developed
their skill, science and social organization largely apart from
the dominant ecclesiastical forces
that shaped the rest of society around them. Some pagan
traditions were retained, and some
ancient educational tactics were developed and employed, such as
dividing knowledge into the
seven liberal arts.42 The lifestyle of these groups had set them
apart from the rest of Europe, and
the isolation grew into a culture within a culture, with its own
insights and perspectives as well as
those of its surrounding world.
Because of its characteristic secrecy, it cannot be stated with
authoritative certainty what
was taught in these guilds or in the modern lodges of
Freemasonry. Nor is it clear what the exact
scope of Masonic study included at any given historical point.
Through its existence,
nevertheless, information about the organization has emerged
from various venues, such as
42 Although some authors imply this to be a Masonic development, this division seems to have been borrowed from the standard curricula of Gothic universities, founded in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. Older roots of division of knowledge still can be seen in works such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics. See also footnote 51.
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25
membership lists, publications of essays initially intended for
Masonic audiences, or minutes of
meetings that somehow ended up in public libraries or private
collections. In any case, at least
part of the curricula that could be studied in the lodges has
therefore become known. While the
subjects were wide-ranging, for the purposes of this study, I
will list a limited and relevant
selection.
In any given Masonic literature, a strong element of
Judeo-Christian esoterica prevails.
This appears to be the most fundamental element of the group’s
spiritual system, with a heavy
emphasis on the Hebrew lore of the Old Testament. In particular,
the passages dealing with the
Temple of Solomon in the book of Kings and Chronicles hold
central meaning and symbolism for
the group. Studies of Greek thought are prevalent as well
throughout Masonic sources, especially
Pythagoreanism. The Greek myths are also frequently referenced.
Egyptian, Babylonian, and
other Middle Eastern belief systems and lore are present as
well, as are resulting syntheses such
as Hermetism and Neo-Platonism. The Freemasonry from Beethoven’s
time also includes a
heavy element of ancient Egyptian influence:43 “Egyptomania
gripped the educated classes.”44
Hinduism certainly captured the Masonic imagination as can be
gathered from contemporary
writings, but it likely became an integral part of the Masonic
system at least as early as the late
eighteenth century when men such as Hammer-Purgstall, William
Jones, and Herder, himself a
Mason, were writing about it in lofty tones.
It seems that no spiritual system appeared uninteresting to
Masonic thinkers; reading
Masonic discourse reveals a striving for this kind of awareness.
It must also be noted that this
erudite literacy extended well into the mathematical and
astronomical aspect of each culture
studied. Whether or not these subjects were all present in the
early centuries of Freemasonry is
43 For instance, Peter Branscombe cites Ignaz von Born’s essay, Über die Mysterien der Aegyptier, as an influential work within the Masonic community in Die Zauberflöte, p. 20.
44 Solomon, Late Beethoven, p. 147.
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26
difficult to ascertain, but the inclination to scrutinize these
venues must have been very present
from early in its history.
To summarize: in its general philosophy, Freemasonry also
assimilates thought from, but
not limited to, the following: paganism, the Kabbala, Hermetism,
ancient Egyptian thought,
Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, Theurgy, Platonism, Neo-Platonism,
various mystery schools, the
Knights Templar, various philosophical and scientific studies,
Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.
In the early to mid-seventeenth century, English Masonic lodges
began to admit non-
stoneworkers, accepting dedicated and distinguished men for
their ranks. This expanded the
membership from professional Masons, who practiced operative
Masonry, to those who
acquainted themselves purely with the non-physical dimension of
Freemasonry, which was rooted
in metaphor and symbolism. It is this latter form with which it
is now most associated. This
theoretical and philosophical study of the Craft (Freemasonry)
became known as speculative
Freemasonry in distinction to operative Freemasonry, which dealt
with the physical practice of
construction. Whether this was a result of pressure from curious
scholars and nobles, or a
persuasive stratagem of the Masons to procure positions of
large-scale social influence, desire to
spread philosophical thought, or any other specific reason is
unclear. Whatever the case, the
Masonic community since then has become primarily an
organization consisting of men of
extremely varied backgrounds, fulfilling a
spiritual/moral/intellectual purpose for its members
rather than merely a practical architectural, engineering, or
brick-laying one as had likely been a
primary dimension of the group its earliest times.
Freemasonry, developing into its speculative state as we know it
today, began its ascent
to international influence in 1717, when Masonic lodges in
London bound themselves into an
organization with centralized authority. After this point,
Masonic influence quickly spread to
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27
mainland Europe via France, and within several short decades,
throughout the German-speaking
lands.45
The admittance of non-stone workers into Freemasonry was a major
social occurrence
that moved in tandem with the blossoming of the Enlightenment.
While many fine points of
Freemasonry remain even now disputed or misunderstood, it is
evident that the group has been
driven toward social reform at least in a broad sense.46 As it
became fashionable and
advantageous for monarchs to become or appear benevolent and/or
enlightened despots,
Freemasonry provided a venue in which they might develop
themselves in various ways without
publicly losing face or threatening their power. It was also
prestigious to be initiated into a
society that was shortly before a restricted one, reputed to
hold esoteric secrets. Conversely, the
growing influence of egalitarian ideals as exemplified by the
Freemasons, ever growing in stature
and power at that time, applied pressure on all European
monarchies to concur with these trends.
The struggle between the ideals of Freemasonry and the
preservation of aristocratic
systems developed into a waxing and waning battle. When the
teenaged Beethoven was old
enough to begin partaking in Freemasonry, which given his
professional and personal
background, would have been a logical step, Imperial favor again
fell with concrete consequences
for these groups. Several repeals of the freedom of Freemasons
to assemble occurred at this time.
In Bavaria in 1784, its Elector banned secret societies. Later,
on March 2, 1785, a further
prohibition was issued banishing the Illuminati founder, Adam
Weisshaupt.47 The son of a
Freemason, Emperor Joseph II was on some level appreciative of
the Masonic social
45 McIntosh in Rose Cross states the date of the first recorded German Masonic lodge as 1737, p. 42.
46 While this view of Freemasonry can be sensed in most of its literature, one may consult Albert Pike’s The Meaning of Masonry as an authoritative statement of the group’s self‐image. Though this address was likely written at least 25 years after Beethoven’s death, its principles seem consistent with those reflected in various sources from Beethoven’s life.
47 Nettl, Mozart and Freemasonry, p. 9.
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28
contribution48 which largely coincided with his own social
agenda. He was nevertheless wary of
the group’s secrecy, and consequently imposed the
Freimaurerpatent, a prohibition of secret
assembly on December 11, 1785.49
Shortly after Masonic lodges opened their doors to aristocrats
and men of distinguished
learning for speculative membership, men of distinction from
various fields were both attracted to
and recruited by the group. The abstract, metaphorical outlook
and philosophies proved
fascinating and/or inspiring to many of Europe’s leading
intellects of the day. By Beethoven’s
time, aristocrats were joined by doctors, artists, lawyers,
military men, and many other significant
figures in seeking admittance into the ranks of the Masons.
1.5 Related Groups
It is important to the understanding of the history of the
Freemasons to realize that it was
not developing in a linear or neat fashion. Parallel groups such
as the Rosicrucians often claimed
Masons as members, often confusing members as to the aims of
both groups. Splinter groups
such as the Illuminati and derivatives of the Knights-Templar
broke off from their Masonic parent
group. Conflicting divisions existed even under the banner of
Freemasonry proper: “Blue
Masonry,” the form practiced in England emphasizing human
equality stood subtly in contrast to
the Masonry developed in France, known as Scottish Rite, or “Red
Masonry.” This emphasized
Freemasonry’s esoteric side, generating interest in attaining
higher levels than the three offered in
48 Einstein, Alfred. Mozart, p.82. More details appear at: http://www.mastermason.com/wilmettepark/mozart.html This source cites: “An e‐Zine of Masonic Re‐Prints and Extracts from various sources. Compiled by Hugh Young [email protected]”. It credits specifically: “BROTHER MOZART AND "THE MAGIC FLUTE" by Newcomb Condee 33 deg”. Here, in the Masonic viewpoint, is described an official statement from Joseph II of 1785 on the Freemasons that limits the group’s membership, but acknowledges its social advantages.
49 Nettl, Mozart and Freemasonry, p. 12.
http://www.mastermason.com/wilmettepark/mozart.htmlmailto:[email protected]
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Blue Masonry; the initiate thereby gradually gained the
teachings guarded by the enlightened few.
Some subtleties of Beethoven’s spiritual makeup that evidence
themselves in his late works
parallel trends of thought that reveal a close kinship with
these contrasting groups, particularly
the Illuminati.
Several of these groups demand some clarification regarding
their place in Beethoven’s
society. To begin with, Rosicrucianism forms some of the
foundation of the emerging Masonic
forms of organization. Freemasonry, while having its own
doctrines and methods, drew on the
model of assembly and outreach strategies of this group,
including recruiting learned and
influential men, as well as developing lodge confederacies.
Rosicrucianism differs from
Freemasonry in that it is more centered on traditional
Christianity and Gnosis, and more firmly
connected with alchemy. Its other primary sources of wisdom are
the Old Testament, ancient
Egypt, and other arcane writings and thus it “evinces an outlook
that runs counter to the
Aufklärung spirit”.50
Special mention must be made of the Illuminati, since
Beethoven’s most influential
childhood mentor, Neefe, was a leader in this group. The
Illuminati came later than other such
societies, and the group could trace their official origin very
specifically: It was founded in 1776
in Bavaria by an Ingolstadt University professor of law at that
time, Adam Weisshaupt. The
structural organization of this group was modeled largely on
Freemasonry and the Jesuits51 under
which Weisshaupt was educated. Though ambiguously worded, the
Illuminati mission statement
declared a more specific sense of purpose and vision for its
members than other similar groups of
the time:
50 McIntosh, Rose Cross, p. 35.
51 Nettl, Mozart and Freemasonry, pp. 9‐10.
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The secret society has for its aim the uniting in a single,
lasting group, by means
of a given higher interest, of men of independent mind from all
parts of the
world, men of all conditions and all religions, without
prejudice to their freedom
of thought, and despite their differences of opinions and
emotions; to arouse in
them a burning desire for this higher interest and such a
responsiveness to it that
they will behave though away as if they were present; though
subordinate, as
equals; though many, as one; that they will do of their own
accord, from true
conviction, that which no overt force, since the beginning of
the world and men,
has been able to make them do.52
The Illuminati grew rapidly through its gestation in Masonic
lodges, persuading many
Masons to join. It is distinguished by its strong anti-religious
stance (in spite of its adherence to
the Jesuit organizational structure) as well as its commitment
to the rise of the business class over
monarchy. While these characteristics of the group are more
visible now, those who were
persuaded to become members at that time were not necessarily
clear about the ultimate sense of
purpose or self-image of the group’s core during this unstable
fledgling period against the setting
of massive civil and social growth.
The Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Freemasons, and other similar
societies (German lands had
many) were fast approaching their peak of power and influence.
They often intermingled to
varying extents, often sharing the same members, most of whom
were motivated toward
implementing some sort of social change. Dissolution of
monarchies and social reform were
common goals of these three groups as well as others, so sharing
membership was natural at this
time. Today, substantial differences of purpose and vision have
split common constituencies
52 Einstien, Mozart, p. 83. Einstein states that this excerpt was taken from Weisshaupt’s “sketches of the statutes of the order.”
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between these organizations, but in Beethoven’s day, they
remained largely, if coincidentally,
bound to each other in the lodges of the most ubiquitous of
these groups, the Freemasons.
It was this constellation of esoteric and mystic groups,
validated by ancient stature and
the interest of brilliant and aristocratic members, which
permeated Bonn’s intellectual circles in
the 1770s. These Masons, in Bonn and elsewhere, were often the
same people that were so
excited by the progressive tendencies in the sciences, politics,
and other spheres. These include
many of the above names associated with the dissemination of
mythical and Hindu thought,
including Herder, Lessing, and Klopstock (see Appendix B). The
intellectual current in these
organizations had an unusual mixture of liberalism (democracy,
rationalism, dissolution of
monarchies) and conservatism (preservation of ritual, lore, and
archaic wisdom in the hands of
initiates). Beethoven’s social connections and biography
reflected this dichotomy of forward-
and backward-looking patterns, especially as evidenced in his
later years. Indeed, his whole life
proved to be rich with Masonic connections, as will be discussed
in Chapter 3.
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Chapter 2
The Masonic View of Music
In the last chapter, the various situations that gave rise to
the type of speculative thinking
that eventually culminated in Freemasonry were examined. As
Beethoven’s Masonic influence
will be traced through several of his late works in Part II of
this dissertation, it becomes pertinent
to elucidate the view of music that Freemasons held.
Much has been made of Masonic influence in various historical
settings when it can be
documented. Its egalitarian and benevolent rhetoric can in some
cases be easily traced to
establishments or deeds associated with the groups, from
Shriners’ Hospitals to Masonic
involvement in the American Revolution. While the depth of
consequence is not at all easily
assessed or provable, connections persistently exist in certain
settings. It is logical that the
Freemasons should at least attempt to involve themselves in
spheres such as politics, economics,
education, philosophy, and medicine, because their goal is
essentially the constant improvement
of the human race through striving.53 This happens most
concretely in the aforementioned
spheres of involvement, and therefore the Masonic influence
becomes most visible in these
contexts.
Yet this group, along with many such groups of the Western
esoteric tradition, seems to
have a strong interest in music. We shall see in the next
chapter the trouble through which so
many Masons went in order to launch Beethoven’s career. In
another example, Mozart was
welcomed into the Freemasons and subsequently relied on the
financial support of some of his
53 As earlier, for an inside perspective, see Albert Pike’s essay, The Meaning of Masonry.
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brethren, especially Michael Puchberg. In this and other ways,
he proved to be less than an ideal
personality for the group (financial self-sufficiency is often a
prerequisite for admission into
Freemasonry), but was very valued nonetheless.
Another example of primary consequence for the music of the
Viennese Aufklärung is the
Baron Gottfried van Swieten, the Prefect of the Imperial
Library, a Freemason who was
intricately involved with both political and musical figures of
the day. Though a distinguished
noble and not a musician, van Swieten devoted a large portion of
his life, spending large sums of
money and energy, to promoting the music of old masters,
particularly Johann Sebastian Bach.54
Interestingly, he learned of Bach through none other than the
Rosicrucian/Masonic King
Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1774.55 The king was himself a
gifted musician dedicated to
cultivation of the art and had expressed profound admiration for
the old Leipzig master. It seems
that many nobles of the late eighteenth century were inclined to
revere music and composers in
ways that went beyond mere admiration, or certainly at least
beyond mere entertainment.
While it is possible that this elevation of the stature of music
and permeation of
Freemasonry into the highest levels of society could be merely
coincidental, the insistent
backdrop of Freemasonry and related groups remained ubiquitous
wherever there was fine music
in the high courts of Vienna or Prussia during the mid- to late
eighteenth century. This
parallelism becomes a more concrete connection when we examine
the view of music held by
Masons. The nature and significance of music are philosophically
meaningful to the Freemasons.
A most relevant passage from the Confessio Fraternitas, a
defining document of the
Rosicrucians, states:
54Baron van Swieten at this time founded the Society of Associated Cavaliers, a musical association devoted primarily to Baroque masters. Both Mozart and Beethoven received at least some professional and financial assistance from this figure.
55 Einstein, Mozart and Freemasonry, p. 150.
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Whosoever can sing with the voice or play on an instrument so as
to attract not
the rocks of Amphion, but pearls and gemstones; not the beasts
of Orpheus, but
the spirit; not Pluto from Tartarus, but the mighty princes of
the world: he shall
enter the Brotherhood.56
This document marks the thinking of the very earliest documented
stages of
Rosicrucianism, being published in 1615 in Kassel.57 This view
in turn finds itself representative
of Freemasonry since modern speculative masonry in large part
grew out of the seventeenth-
century Rosicrucian movement. Tracing this musical outlook,
though rooted in the abstruse
recesses of Masonic speculation, to its concrete historical
manifestations can become urgently
relevant in its implications.
2.1 Prototypical Organization of Masonic Musical Philosophy
In the forming Masonic dogma, music had many different
functions, categories, and
meanings. Feemasonry strove to understand all esoteric thought,
as this undertaking would be
necessary for the perfection of the human spirit. To begin with,
Masons held to the ancient
tradition of epistemic division of learning into the seven
liberal arts:58 Grammar, Rhetoric,
Dialectics (Logic), Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and
Astronomy.59
56 Godwin, Joscelyn, Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, p. 24.
57 McIntosh, Rose Cross, p. 25.
58 Though commonly attributed to Martianus Capella, the scheme of a multi‐course study for individual development has been traced by Christopher Flannery, in his article “Liberal Arts and Liberal Education” to Marcus Trentius Varro, ca. 1st century B.C.
59 Howard, Occult Conspiracy, p. 4.
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The seven-point scheme has mystical underpinnings,60 and was
subsequently divided in a
set of three, the Trivium, plus a set of four, called the
Quadrivium. The Trivium (Grammar,
Rhetoric, and Dialectics) contained essential knowledge for
communication and served as a
fundamental basis for the higher studies of the remaining four,
which comprised the Quadrivium.
Music was understood in this context not as entertainment or an
art, but as an abstract
mathematical form, which can be traced to traditions at least as
old as those of Pythagoras.
Morris Kline, a historian of mathematics, cites an example of
this perspective in Leibniz, showing
that this perspective survived even into the modern era: “Music
is the pleasure the human soul
experiences from counting without being aware that it is
counting.”61 Kline continues:
“Arithmetic, geometry, spherics (astronomy), and music comprised
the famous quadrivium. The
four subjects were linked further by being described as pure,
stationary, moving, and applied
number, respectively.” Proclus’s succinct definitions of the
Quadrivium subjects give another
insightful view of the meaning that music held in this
system:
Arithmetic is the Discrete At Rest
Astronomy is the Discrete In Motion
Geometry is the Continuous At Rest
Music is the Continuous In Motion62
This system was the common method employed in Gothic
universities. The most revered
figure for the study of music in this setting, however, was
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,
writing in the early sixth century. When the Roman Empire
disintegrated part by part during the
fourth through sixth centuries, it left a widening vacuum of
central authority and communication
60 See Mackey’s entry on the number seven in his Lexicon, p. 437‐8.
61 Kline, Mathematics, p. 287.
62 Proclus, Euclid’s Elements, In primum Euclidis elementorum librum commentarii.
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lines in the arts, just as it did in politics. Much knowledge on
ancient theory and practice of
music was lost, and remaining writings were dispersed, thus
increasing the difficulty of
assembling the overall “big picture” of the art held by the
ancient western world. This musical
diaspora was mirrored in the performing community as well as
that of the learned; renowned
performers and scholars could not easily assemble across an
economically depressed and war-
ravaged Europe.
Rome still maintained a certain cultural primacy in Boethius’s
day, which allowed him to
ascend to a position of prominence, attaining the position of
“Consul in 510 and subsequently
counselor to Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths.”63 Influential
in philosophy in general, his view
of music became a standard of Medieval Europe and continued to
be studied seriously well into
the Enlightenment.
The writings of Boethius sustained the view of music as a
subject worthy of the most
serious reflection. He divided music into three categories that
encompass not only all that we
now consider and debate to be music (that which is audible) but
extending to the realm of general
human experience (for instance, the non-audible “music” of the
soul), and finally to the nature,
mechanics, and spiritual aspects of the cosmos in general. These
categories are:
1. Musica instrumentalis – that which can be produced on
instruments, and is
audible to the ear.
2. Musica humana – that which is of the human body
3. Musica mundana – That which is produced by heavenly bodies
moving through
their orbits
Musica instrumentalis was, as its name implies, music that would
be produced on musical
instruments or sung. This is music in its mos